Timbers 3, Whitecaps 1: If you're going to lose, make it fun

At least the Vancouver Whitecaps aren’t playing boring soccer anymore.

Yes, they lost to the Portland Timbers on Saturday at Provident Park in Portland, Ore. But they didn’t go down without a fight.

August has proven to be a far more entertaining month for Whitecaps fans, as their team has found an attacking energy that was largely absent in June and July.

July was so bad, including a shocking loss in the Canadian Championship, that Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos called the month a nightmare this week.

The dream for Dos Santos would be that his team quickly rights itself and somehow, from miles back in the playoff chase, pulls itself into the postseason.

That’s not happening but at least his reality looks dismal no longer.

The Whitecaps got a wonder goal from Theo Bair but two howitzer-like efforts from Portland’s Sebastian Blanco and Marvin Loria and then a late goal on a counterattack by Jeremy Ebobisse outbalanced the visitors.

Whitecaps coach Marc Dos Santos said he liked how his team had performed in the first half and were perhaps unlucky in the second.

“If there was a little bit more belief in the box I believe we could have tied,” he said. “I think today we did enough offensively on the road to get goals.”

“He’s worked really really hard for this opportunity. All credit to him,” he said. “Throughout the season early on, when he wasn’t really involved, he never put his head down. Obviously the academy boys saw what’s happened with Alfonso Davies and they all want to be the next one. I think he’s worked so hard on little things in his game throughout the season.”

“He’s been humble.”

Screaming trees

You have to give credit where it’s due: Bair’s goal may have been the best in Caps history, but it may not have been the best in the game.

Both Timbers goals were screamers, first from Blanco in the first half, then by Loria in the second half.

Both shots were taken outside the 18-yard box, both blasted just past the outstreched hands of Max Crepeau.

Maybe he could have done better on the Blanco effort, but the creative midfielder put so much English on his shot, not to mention power, you can hardly blame him.

Loria’s short was a true marvel, with a late dip to find the bottom corner of the net.

Rough ride

Ali Adnan made a brave block with his head early in the game — shortly after a spectacular Crepeau save, the first of many on the night — and stayed down for a time.

He appeared to strain his groin on a clearance kick not long after.

After the game, the Whitecaps said he was dealing with a left adductor strain.

Adnan hurt his groin in late May; it’s hard to recover completely from damage to the area during the season, so it’s entirely possible this latest strain is related to the earlier problem.

Lively start

The return of Yordy Reyna, predictably, gave some jump to the Whitecaps’ attack. Reyna started at centre forward, flanked by Fredy Montero and Theo Bair.

The pace to the game continued all night, with chances flowing from end to end, even if the Whitecaps continued to struggle to move the ball through the middle of the pitch.

Reyna looked to have scored a goal to tie things up halfway through the second half but he was whistled for being offside.

Dos Santos didn’t say it directly but implied post-match he felt ruling Reyna offside was incorrect. He also pointed to the Ebobisse goal as a very similar situation, but with the play being ruled onside.

“It’s not worth it. Just go see the image,” he said, indicating he wasn’t interested in getting fined for his comments.

Cascadia Cup date

The Portland win means the Timbers are in the driver’s seat for the Cascadia Cup, which is awarded to the team with the most points in games between Portland, Vancouver and Seattle.

There’s one game left between the teams, with Portland hosting Seattle next month.

The Timbers now have six points, two up on both the Sounders and the Whitecaps. Seattle will need to beat Portland to take the cup for 2019. The Sounders were champions in 2018.

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